Autophagy is the process wherein cells transport intracellular constituents such as proteins, lipids, and organelles, to the lysosome for degradation and recycling. The degradation and recycling of damaged organelles and toxic aggregation prone proteins is essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis.
In recent years, studies have shown that the dysregulation of autophagy plays an important role in various diseases, such as, for example, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders, infectious, cardiovascular, pulmonary, hepatic, metabolic and inflammatory diseases. In many of these diseases toxic protein aggregates accumulate, interfering with normal cellular function. Re-establishing normal autophagy or the enhancement of autophagy may provide a valuable means for treating such diseases characterized by abnormal autophagy and/or abnormal aggregation of, e.g., toxic protein aggregates. Accordingly, there remains a need for new treatments that ameliorate abnormal autophagy and/or restore normal autophagy.